#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalChristmas Week 1

This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.

The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."

Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the first week of #ClassicalChristmas

12/2 Christoph Graupner: Jauchzet ihr Himmel, erfreue dich Erde, GWV 1105/53

In his day, Graupner was as famous as Telemann. His cantata "Rejoice, heaven, and earth" was composed for Christmas Day, 1753.

12/3 Heinrich Schütz: Weihnachtshistorie SWV435

Schutz's "Christmas Story" was first performed in Dresden, Christmas 1660. The text comes almost exclusively from Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible.

12/4/ William Billings: Shepherd's Carol

American hymnodist wrote both words and music for this carol. It was first published in "The Suffolk Harmony" in 1786.

12/5 Conrad Susa: This Endrys night

American composer Conrad Susa studied with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti. His setting of this medieval text comes from his Three Mystical Carols.

12/6 Louis-Claude Daquin: Noel X

French Baroque composer Daquin was also a renowned harpsichordist and organist. His 12 Noels was published in 1757, and are still used in churches today.

Georgy Catoire & Ignaz Friedman quintets - alike yet different

Russian composer Georgy Catoire remains relatively unknown. His self-effacing nature kept his music out of the spotlight, and himself out of the company of other composers. The 1914 Piano Quintet in G minor shows the effect of that isolation.

While it's a late-Romantic work, it's also a forward-looking one. Catoire methodically lays out his themes and develops them in a Brahmsian fashion. His harmonies are -- for the era -- a little sparse. In that sense, they seem to anticipate Debussy or Ravel.

The overall mix of instruments is also a little unusual. Many piano quintets are conversations between individual instruments. There aren't any big solos here. Catoire treats the instruments almost like a chamber orchestra, using his five instruments in varying combinations to color his music in delicate hues.

Tchaikovsky called Catoire "someone who possesses genuine creative talent." And it's a unique one, too. Only through repeated listening could I appreciate the subtle details of Catoire's creation.

Ignaz Friedman is best remembered as one of the leading piano virtuosi of the early 20th Century. His Piano Quintet in C minor was finished just after the First World War. The dramatically dark opening movement is thought to be a reaction to the war.

The international celebrity of Friedman is a stark contrast to the reputation of the reclusive Catoire. And the character of their piano quintets also varies greatly.

Friedman gives the piano plenty to do, as one might expect. His melodies spin out over rich harmonies. At first listen, it may all seem like post-Romantic over-indulgence. But listen closer. Friedman has something substantial to say. Although Friedman's music is showier, it's also well-constructed. Like the Cantori quintet, Friedman's composition satisfies, just in a different fashion.

The assembled players perform with sensitivity and beauty. Pianist Bengt Forsberg does yeoman's work in the Friedman quintet. It is a real challenge.

If you're looking for chamber music that's a little out of the ordinary, look no further. Although neither work is a concert staple, both are important works by talented individuals who couldn't be more different.

Georgy Lvovich Catoire, Ignaz Friedman: Piano Quintets
Nils-Erik Sparf, Ulf Forsberg, violins; Ellen Nisbeth, viola; Andreas Brantelid, cello; Bengt Forsberg, piano
BIS 2314 SACD

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier Chamber Music all business

Sometimes it's easy to forget that music is a business -- even classical music. It's something Joseph Bodin de Boismortier always remembered. And it made him wealthy.

Boismortier was active in the early 1700s and a contemporary of Rameau. He was one of the first composers to be successful without a patron.

Louis XV granted him a monopoly on music printing (which helped). And his own compositions delivered what audiences wanted.

Boismortier wrote mostly chamber music, for performance by professionals and amateurs. He wrote in the light, Rococo style that blended French and Italian influences. During his lifetime, Boismortier was extremely popular. As tastes changed, his music fell by the wayside.

Decades after Boismortier's death, one critic wrote, "Even though his works be long forgotten, whoever might undertake the task of exploring this abandoned mine might well find enough flecks of gold to produce an ingot”.

The Cappella Musicale managed to find an entire album's worth. This collection of instrumental music is both appealing and interesting. Boismortier may have composed with a light touch, but he was an excellent craftsman.

The ensemble presents a variety of works. The Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 38 No. 1 follows the Italian model (fast-slow-fast), but it's a duet for two transverse flutes. The excerpts from the Op. 59 Suite de pieces de clavecin are elegant little miniatures of deceptive simplicity.

The dance suites have enough syncopation and energy that they're, well, danceable. And the Trio Sonata in D major, Op. 37, No. 3 has some wonderful antiphonal passages.

The Cappella Musicale, collectively and individually delivers good-natured, spirited performances. Boismortier didn't write for the ages -- he wrote for the entertainment of his audiences. This recording is just that. Entertaining -- and to an audience centuries removed from Boismortier's target market.

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: The Court and Village Chamber Music
Cappella Musicale; Enrico Stuart, director
Brilliant Classics 96036

 

The Celebratory Suites of Pancho Vladigerov

In Bulgaria, Pancho Vladigerov is almost considered the founder of classical music. Like Bedrich Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, he deftly blended his country's folk music with Western classical traditions. And like those composers, he created music of both national and international appeal.

The characteristic odd meters of Slavic folk music gives Vladigerov's compositions a bubbling energy. In some ways, Vladigerov's style reminded me of Bohuslav Martinu's.

Seven Symphonic Bulgarian Dances features some imaginative orchestration. Vladigerov seems to use the orchestra as a resource of individual sounds. He only uses as many or as few instruments as he needs to get the effect he wants.

And the overall effect is this: every dance has a very different sound. The seven-movement suite is a kaleidoscope of orchestral color that keeps the listener's attention.


The Vardar Rhapsody was originally for violin and piano. In its orchestral form, the rhapsody became a patriotic emblem -- similar to the role Sibelius's "Finlandia" plays its country. It's a noble-sounding work and a distinctively Bulgarian-sounding one as well.

The album closes with the Bulgarian Suite, Op. 21. Vladigerov once again returns to folk traditions for each of the four movements as he did for the Bulgarian Dances. And like the Dances, this Suite is just as appealing for all the same reasons.

Rouse Philharmonic Orchestra gives these works sympathetic readings. I suspect Bulgarian musicians have a deeper understanding of what Vladigerov intended. And they deliver.

These are lively, energetic performances that at times sound celebratory. The recorded sound is passable.

Pancho Vladigerov: Bulgarian Suite
Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra; Nayden Todorov, conductor
Naxos 8.573422

Margaret Bonds - The Ballad of the Brown King

Margaret Bonds is considered one of America's most important 20th Century composers of color. And yet, because most of her work remains unpublished, little of it gets recorded. Which is why I was so excited to get this release.

Malcolm J. Merriweather, the conductor of the Dessoff Choirs in New York City, has become a champion of Bonds' music. This release features a major work by Bonds, as well as several songs sung by Merriweather.

Bonds had a close relationship with Langston Hughes, and with one exception all the works on this album are settings of his poems.

"The Ballad of the Brown King" is a work of incredible beauty. And not just a major choral work, but a Christmas-themed one. Everything about the Ballad sounds fresh and innovative.

The text focusses on Balthazar, one of the Three Wise Men who, by tradition is dark-skinned. Hughes' poem makes him a representative of all people of color, taking his place alongside the others at Jesus' birth.

Bonds' music is equally innovative. There are echoes of spirituals in the music, as well as a nod to Caribbean rhythms. But her neo-modal harmonies give the music a timeless quality and weaken the ties to traditional Western classical music.

But those ties are still there. And that, I think, makes this such a wonderful work. To me, the music, while celebrating African-American culture, also transcends race. This is Christmas music we all can -- and should -- enjoy.

Under Merriweather's direction the soloists, choirs, and ensemble deliver a heartfelt performance.

The additional songs, for baritone and harp, feature Merriweather as a singer. His rich, creamy baritone seems to sculpt each phrase is precisely the right manner.
Don't be fooled by the ho-hum cover art. This is an important release of exceptional music. Margaret Bonds was a gifted composer -- no other modifiers needed.

Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs
Laquita Mitchell, soprano; Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano; Noah Stewart, tenor; Ashley Jackson, harp
The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra; Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor
Avie AV 2413